Energy efficiency benefits as CEFC helps Thinxtra scale up its network for the Internet of Things

17 August 2017

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation is committing up to $10
million to help scale up a new Internet of Things (IoT) network
focused on cutting energy use.

Australian company Thinxtra is deploying the world-leading
Sigfox Low Powered Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology. The
technology is part of a global network connecting billions of
devices to the Internet while consuming as little energy as
possible, as simply as possible.

CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth said: "Australia is a vast country with a
scattered population. A large amount of energy is expended in
physically monitoring millions of pallets, waste containers, gas
canisters, farm gates, livestock and more. By providing a low-cost
solution for tracking and monitoring these assets, we can save a
huge amount of emissions.

"Our finance for Thinxtra will help build essential support
technology which is set to play a key role in transitioning the
Australian economy to net zero emissions by the second half of the
century.

The CEFC's $10 million commitment, through the Clean Energy
Innovation Fund, is part of Thinxtra's $20 million Series B capital
raising. The Clean Energy Innovation Fund draws on the combined
skills and experience of the CEFC and the Australian Renewable
Energy Agency (ARENA) to support the growth of innovative clean
energy technologies and businesses which are critical to
Australia's clean energy transformation.

CEFC Investment Development Director Blair Pritchard said a
whole range of devices already on the market - including GPS
locators, temperature sensors and water meters - can be operated
more efficiently through the LPWAN technology.

"The proliferation of devices that enable remote monitoring,
tracking and operation is transforming the way we live," Mr
Pritchard said. "However, connecting them to existing internet
services can be a bit like using a four-lane highway when a
footpath would suffice, or hiring a whole bus to send one person to
the shops.

"Thinxtra's LPWAN technology requires far less power and
provides much longer battery life for devices that only require the
transmission of small amounts of data and intermittent internet
connectivity.

"This low-cost technology will make it economically viable to
connect a vast number of lower-value assets to a network over great
distances. We see it as an important addition to the rapidly
developing IoT ecosystem."

Thinxtra CEO Loic Barancourt said the company is on track to
have a network that covers 95 per cent of the Australian population
by the end of the year.

"We will be the low power wide area network of choice for IoT
and we're aiming for 17 million objects connected by the end of
2022," Mr Barancourt said.

"Our network has been designed with IoT in mind. It is open and
an extension of the global Sigfox network, based on antennae and
base station infrastructure that is independent of existing telco
networks."

More than 150 local businesses have already partnered with
Thinxtra to leverage its network technology to create operational
efficiencies in a wide range of industries, such as:

Smart water meter service companies that enable large water
users to detect leaks

Smart farming service providers with waterproof data
communicators that integrate with software and sensors to provide
daily data on soil, weather and other environmental monitoring

ABOUT THINXTRA

Thinxtra is empowering the Internet of Things in Asia Pacific by
deploying the world-leading Sigfox LPWA network, as well as
building a full eco-system of IoT solutions and services to enable
the non-connected to connect, to increase productivity, accelerate
decision making, improve quality of service and quality of life,
and find more economical solutions to common problems. Sigfox is
the world's leading provider of connectivity for the Internet of
Things (IoT). The company has built a global network to connect
billions of devices to the Internet while consuming as little
energy as possible, as simply as possible. Sigfox's unique approach
to device-to-cloud communications addresses the three greatest
barriers to global IoT adoption: cost, energy consumption, and
global scalability. For more information, visit https://www.thinxtra.com/